There was an under reporting of Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) to Rs 1500 crore (Rs 15 billion) by the telecom firms, to avoid payment of licence fee, and the government may have lost about Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) because of this, telecom minister A Raja said during Question Hour.
India earned over Rs 3.22 lakh crore (Rs 3.22 trillion) worth of foreign exchange through tourism.
The government on Thursday said it wants to make the country free of slums in the next five years through a housing scheme for urban poor.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Roy said a housing scheme for the urban poor has been envisaged to help people living in slums get their own houses.
Was the railways responsible for some members of Lok Sabha being absent from the House on Monday that led to collapse of Question Hour and triggered a controversy?
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, minister for micro, small and medium industries Mahavir Prasad said the RBI had in September 8, 2005 issued guidelines relating to debt restructuring mechanism for SMEs, based on the 'policy package for stepping up credit to SMEs' announced by the Centre the same year.
Investment made by a domestic company in which foreign firms might hold a small stake but the majority 51 per cent shareholding and managing control is with Indians, will not be treated as foreign direct investment for the purpose to calculating the sectoral cap.
Different investigating agencies -- Securities and Exchange Board of India, Registrar of Companies and Serious Fraud Investigation Office -- are looking into the fraud and 'I assure you that those found guilty would be meted out severe punishment.'
The issue of alleged bugging at Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's residence rocked Parliament on Wednesday with Congress alleging that the methods used in Gujarat to keep tabs on ministers and MPs were being employed at the Centre, a charge stoutly rejected by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Union Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday said it was "unfortunate and painful" that 70 per cent of the defence equipment was still being imported and informed the Lok Sabha that government was working towards manufacturing state-of-the-art equipment indigenously.
VDS schemes in the past offered amnesty to people declaring black money and paying tax. This policy has been criticised as it amounted to penalising honest tax payers by asking them to pay tax at higher rates.
The downward slide in Indian exports following recession in major markets of the United States and Europe, has been arrested, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said, "full service airlines earlier used to offer five per cent commission to travel agents on basic fare." "From November 1, 2008, Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher abolished the agency commission and introduced transaction fee model... (however) Jet and Kingfisher have started paying commission on basic fare and fuel surcharge.
NDA ally, the TDP continued to disrupt the both Houses of the Parliament over demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh.
Modi attended the House during Question Hour as Thursday is the day of questions listed against the PM's name.
If the LPG consumer does not have an Aadhaar number, he can directly receive subsidy in his bank account without the use of Aadhaar number
India's exports grew marginally by 0.88 per cent.
The high speed bullet train is expected to cover 508 km between in about two hours.
Though the exact number of people who have returned is not available, there are reports which indicate that between 16,000 to 20,000 Indians have come back here after the economic slowdown, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
The government is considering bringing in legislation to forfeit the Rs 8,804 crore (Rs 88.04 billion) in frozen demat accounts, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, corporate affairs minister Prem Chand Gupta said while the Serious Fraud Investigation Office under his ministry had been given three-months to wrap up its probe into the Satyam scam, no time-frame has been set for CBI.
As many as 322 swine flu cases have been reported in the country so far, with 234 of them being treated and discharged compared to 200 deaths reported in the United States, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Wednesday.
To say that airports of India are not changing or to say that infrastructure at airports has not changed in the last few years would be unfair, says Praful Patel.
India has plans to more than double the number of Russian-made Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter aircraft in Indian Air Force fleet to 230 by 2015, Defence Minister A K Antony informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The government today said it will look into the matter relating to a ship named SS Oceanic carrying 250 tonnes of asbestos, which is reported to be heading towards the Alang shipbreaking yard in Gujarat.
A sample study conducted for the period August-October 2008 by department of commerce for 121 export related companies also revealed loss in export orders to the tune of Rs 1792 crore (Rs 17.92 billion), he said during Question Hour in Lok Sabha.
In view of financial constraints, government has taken a policy decision to open new post offices, wherever necessary, by redeployment of existing employees and within the available resources with the department, minister for communication and IT A Raja said in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.
Such employees will get an allowance in cash equal to half of their wages computed on the basis of average salary for their entire service, labour minister Oscar Fernandes said during the question hour. Such employees will get an allowance in cash equal to half of their wages computed on the basis of average salary for their entire service, labour minister Oscar Fernandes said during the question hour.
The National Democratic Alliance's agitation on price rise issue rocked Parliament on Thursday with both the Houses being adjourned for two hours, as the Opposition disrupted proceedings over the United Progressive Alliance government's failure to contain inflation.
Tourism Minister Ambika Soni said 5.08 million tourists visited India in 2007, recording a growth of 14.56 per cent. This was better than the world average of around 6 per cent. However, since October 2008, there has been some reduction, she said. In December 2008, foreign tourist arrivals numbered 521,990; this was 12.5 per cent lower than the number of arrivals in the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, January saw a 17.6 per cent drop to 487,262 arrivals.
"You do not deserve one paisa of public money," an angry Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said as members of several political parties stormed the Well of Lok Sabha raising a spate of issues and disrupted Question Hour.
To encourage greater use of public transport and non-motorised mode of transport, BRTS projects in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Pune/Pimpri-Chinchwad, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam and Jaipur have been approved.
Chhattisgarh House rule says that anyone entering the well of the House would be automatically suspended.
In a virtual disapproval of anti-Naxalite group Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that the Centre was not in favour of 'non-state actors' taking the job of law enforcement in their hands. "We are not in favour of non-state actors taking law enforcement in their hands," he said during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha.
The government on Monday said it does not have inputs to suggest that the Naxals have established links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. "There are no inputs to suggest that the Naxals have established links with the ISI," Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told the Lok Sabha during the Question Hour. He said as many as 217 security personnel and 441 civilians were killed in Naxal violence and action against them till November 30.
The sale of gutka would be booked under non-bailable sections regarding the offence
Responding to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said there was no proposal to waive loans of the landless. Indian Banks Association have asked its members to provide loans to the landless so that they can pay back the money-lenders, the minister said.
Opposition on Thursday paralysed Parliament, with Rajya Sabha disrupted over demand for the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his response in the demonetisation debate, which the government rejected outright.
The government estimates the food subsidy bill to be Rs 490-500 billion this year from Rs 190 billion earlier, Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told Rajya Sabha during Question Hour. The Centre issues rice at Rs 5.65 a kg and wheat at Rs 4.15 per kg to the states for supply through ration shops to families covered under the BPL category. Pawar, however, was non-committal on increasing the coverage of subsidised foodgrains to include more people.
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